The Sweetest Thing
by redcandle
Summary: Catelyn nurses baby Robb and chats with Lysa while they wait for their men to return from the war.


Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and elements from A Song of Ice and Fire belong to George R.R. Martin. No copyright infringement is intended.

Catelyn took Robb back from Lysa when he began to fuss. "He needs a nap," she told her sister. She could scarcely remember what it had been like before her babe's every gurgle eclipsed everything else in the world.

"You're so lucky, Cat," Lysa said. There was an unfamiliar edge to her voice.

Catelyn walked back and forth in the bower, trying to rock Robb to sleep. She bit back the urge to remind Lysa of Brandon. He'd been killed mere days before they were to marry. Catelyn would not call that lucky.

She supposed she was lucky from Lysa's perspective though. She had wed a man near her own age and conceived a babe quickly, while Lysa had wed a man old enough to be their grandfather and had not conceived. So she tried to comfort her sister. "It won't be much longer until your lord husband returns to you. The war is won, with King's Landing fallen."

Lysa's expression soured, as though Lord Jon's return was not something she looked forward to. But how else was she to get the babe she so desperately wanted? Catelyn sighed softly. Lysa had gotten so moody lately.

Her own husband would be back soon too, Catelyn mused. It had been nearly a year since she'd last seen him. She had written to him, but she did not know how many of those letters he'd received. His letters to her were brief, more to let her know he was alive than anything else.

"Eddard spoke warmly of Lord Jon," she told Lysa. "He has been a loving and patient foster father to Eddard and Robert. I'm sure he will be no less good to you."

Lysa made a non-committal sound and picked up her embroidery.

Little Robb decided at that moment that he wanted milk, not sleep, and began to make the snuffling sounds that were his prelude to crying. Catelyn let her sister sulk as she focused on her babe. She quickly unlaced her bodice and gave him her breast.

Unwilling to allow Lysa to spoil her mood, she strolled to the window and looked out at the Tumblestone flowing past the castle. She had told Lysa the truth; the war was at an end and soon it would be time to take their places beside their husbands. She had already prepared herself once to leave Riverrun, with Brandon, and now she must do it again.

"How does it feel?" Lysa asked suddenly. "Does it feel like a man's mouth on your breast or is it different?"

"It's different, of course," Catelyn replied. She didn't know how to explain the sensation of her babe suckling from her. "It feels…" She glanced down at Robb and stroked the auburn fuzz on his head. "If he needed to suckle until there was nothing left of me, I would gladly allow it."

Lysa stared at Robb with a look of near-pain on her face. Catelyn looked away.

"Oh, Cat," Lysa wailed, "Father…"

"Is home!" Cat shouted excitedly. She could see the Tully banner fluttering in the distance, and a long column of men riding behind it. She was ready to run through the castle and position herself to greet her father at the gate. When she was little, he used to tell her that the sight of her face after a long journey was the sweetest thing in all the realm.

But she was a woman grown now, with a child of her own. Robb was still suckling at her breast greedily. Catelyn tried to curb her impatience and content herself with looking at the men coming home. Their numbers were fewer than had ridden off to war. She said a silent prayer for those men who wouldn't be coming home, and for the new-made orphans and widows.

"I'll keep Robb while you go greet Father," Lysa offered, when the babe had finally had enough and Cat was lacing back up her gown.

"Father will want to see him right away," Cat said. "He'll be so proud to see that Robb has his look. You have to come down and see him too, Lysa. Father only did what he thought was best for you. Lord Jon is a great lord; your son will rule the Vale."

"What son?" Lysa asked bitterly.

But Cat had no more patience to spare for her sister today. She cradled Robb carefully and hurried out of the room, eager to see her father's smile and feel his arms around her again. She could be his little cat for just a short while longer.


End file.
